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Using Medical Cannabis & CBD for Patients with Cancer

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Using Medical Cannabis & CBD for Patients with Cancer

Cannabis is an ancient medicinal herb that has been used for thousands of years to treat nausea, vomiting, pain and other ailments. Cannabis has also been used to stimulate appetite, improve sleep and alleviate depression. Recently, cannabis has renewed research interest for its use in the management and treatment of several oncology-related symptoms. As a result, Cannabis is moving from the fringes of alternative medicine to the forefront, as research intensifies to find and study its therapeutic properties. From alleviating nausea associated with chemotherapy to relieving chronic pain, which one of these actually work? What are some potential side effects?


Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting (CINV)

"Cannabinoids for nausea and vomiting in adults with cancer receiving chemotherapy" published in 2015 is a thorough meta-analysis of 23 random controlled trials that looked at whether CBD actually helped solve nausea and vomiting for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. What they found was that CBD can significantly reduce vomiting in patients when compared to placebos and that CBD is as effective as traditional anti-nausea or anti-emetic drugs. You can click here to read a detailed summary of the study delving into the impact of CBD on nausea & vomiting.


Analgesia or Pain Relief

Most cancer patients experience pain of some sort. This could be pain due to chemotherapy, radiation treatment, or the disease itself. As a result, doctors have started prescribing opioids which have their own list of side effects such as sedation, respiratory depression, constipation, nausea/vomiting, and dependence/addiction.


In the study, "Multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of THC:CBD extract and THC extract in patients with intractable cancer-related pain", Johnson et al use a randomized controlled trial to study the impact of THC:CBD extract, THC extract, or placebo on pain for cancer patients. They found a significant decrease in pain compared to the placebo for the THC:CBD group but not for the THC only group. 43% of the THC:CBD group saw a 30% improvement in pain. Based on this finding, Johnson et al recommended the use of this THC:CBD extract for pain relief for advanced cancer patients when traditional opioids don't work.


As a speculative side note, the THC:CBD extract may have worked when the THC alone did not work because of the entourage effect of full spectrum CBD. But what does Full Spectrum CBD mean? Basically, it is a CBD extract that contains the full spectrum – or full range – of extracts that occur naturally in the cannabis plant. Research has shown that the chemical compounds in Cannabis work differently (and better) together rather than individually. This is called the entourage effect. Thus, the THC:CBD extract may be interacting together to cause the entourage effect where the THC could not work individually.


In their paper, "The Efficacy of Medical Marijuana in the Treatment of Cancer-Related Pain", Pawasarat et al showed that patients significantly reduced their use of Morphine Milliequivalent (MME) when they used medical cannabis. This study may show that medical cannabis may also help in increasing the effectiveness of opioids and thus delay the development of an opioid dependance.


Cachexia or Wasting Syndrome

In a study of 469 advanced cancer patients, Jatoi et al found that megestrol acetate was superior in inducing appetite when compared to the tetrahydrocannabinol, Dronabinol. Dronabinol (THC) has been used as by AIDS patients since 1985 when it was first approved by the US FDA to help with anorexia in AIDS patients.


Tumor Suppressor

This is probably the most controversial use of medical cannabis. One should also keep in mind that, even if we read promising results in these studies, we should not interpret them to mean that every cancer cell line will have the same positive response.

Dr. Baram et al. studied the impact of CBD extracts on 12 different forms of cancer. Results varied depending on the type of cancer and THC was shown to have an impact on cell death in a few cases. In the end, the researchers concluded that a combination of cannabinoids may be the key behind the effectiveness of certain therapies instead of the presence or amount of THC. Therefore, they recommend the use of full spectrum cannabinoid therapy instead of isolating THC. You can read this comprehensive guide on Full Spectrum CBD to learn more.

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